Background: Classic grounded theory (CGT) is a valuable method for nursing research, but the application of CGT methodology in nursing studies has not been specifically investigated. With its growing popularity the responsibility to ensure the quality of studies being undertaken becomes increasingly important.
Objective: This systematic review will apply the constructs of the Guideline for Reporting and Evaluating Grounded Theory Research Studies (GUREGT) to appraise how consistently researchers adhere to the principles of CGT methodology.
Methods: The reporting of this review will be guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic and meta-analysis guidelines (PRISMA) statement and data synthesis guided by the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) guideline. Publications will be uploaded to Rayyan™. The quality of each article will be assessed using the CASP qualitative research appraisal tool. Analysis of the selected studies will be performed using the GUREGT, explicitly the classic grounded theory guiding principles.
Registration details - Protocol Registration: Prospero ID - CRD42021281103
Results: The results of this review will provide a framework to inform the precise application of CGT in future research. This in turn will enhance the rigour of subsequent CGT studies, which will better inform nursing practice and education going forward.
Keywords: Classic Grounded THEORY, nursing, methodology, systematic review protocol.

Aim: The purpose of the ‘Escaping Sepsis’ educational escape room (EER) was to create an innovative learning environment to promote content retention, critical thinking and apply learnt concepts to nursing practice for continued professional development (CPD) in a Victorian metropolitan hospital.
Methods: An education needs assessment was undertaken to identify learning needs of an acute care nursing cohort in early 2023. Based on these results, ‘Identifying sepsis and initiating the Adult Sepsis Pathway’ was highlighted as a knowledge gap. A literature review around active teaching approaches revealed game-based learning is becoming increasingly popular and effective in nursing education, thus an EER was the chosen teaching strategy. The clinical scenario was developed based on the authors clinical experiences and designed to align with intended learning outcomes. These included: 1) identify risk factors, signs, and symptoms of sepsis, 2) demonstrate the initial management of sepsis, 3) evaluate clinical information to provide appropriate nursing care and 4) develop collaborative communication that supports safe decision making. The ERR was piloted with three participants who had a 15-minute time cap to solve riddles, find clues and use clinical information to escape. A further three participants received observer cards to ensure they were also immersed in the content knowledge. Data was collected via feedback forms.
Results: All learners reported the EER strengthened their knowledge and plan to apply new learnings to their clinical practice. Using a Likert scale, over 70% of learners “strongly agreed” the content of the session was useful and interesting. The consensus from the learners was that the EER was fun, informative, and consolidated theoretical and clinical knowledge.
Conclusion: EER’s are an effective and active learning strategy within nursing education that encourages learners to engage, collaborate, enhance critical thinking skills, improve clinical knowledge, and promotes the delivery of safe and high-quality patient care.
Keywords: educational escape rooms; game-based learning; innovative nurse education.

Background: The current maternal and newborn outcomes in Timor-Leste have drawn attention to its healthcare workforce's training and professional development needs. Professional development training sessions were crafted for thirteen Timorese midwives and nurses using various approaches and methods. This was implemented at a University in Australia. Australian maternal and newborn health specialists developed and delivered this bespoke training program during a five-week residential program conducted in Australia.
Aim: To describe an Australian maternal and newborn health training program for Timorese midwives and nurses and report quantitative and qualitative evaluations.
Methods: Surveys were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data at three-time points – pre-training, post-training, and in-country follow-up. The pre-training survey occurred before the program in Australia, the post-training survey occurred immediately after the program in Australia, and the in-country survey occurred two months after returning to Timor-Leste. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data using thematic analyses.
Findings: Timorese midwives and nurses expressed increased knowledge and skills required for enhanced maternal and neonatal care. The participants learned to use evidence-based research as a foundation for practice change, identified their knowledge gaps, and took steps to acquire skills in respectful maternity care and safe practice.
The participants also identified barriers to implementing quality improvement projects to enhance maternity services. Most participants expressed an improvement in the English language following the five-week program in Australia – an unintended outcome emanating from a combination of engagement with local members, the University, and the broader Australian communities.
Conclusion:
An Australian onshore training program in collaboration with local Clubs for Timorese midwives and nurses can support midwifery skills and professional development in Timor-Leste, aiming to assist women, infants and the healthcare professionals who care for them in Timor-Leste.
Keywords: midwifery; infant health; Timor-Leste; Australia

Aim: To examine factors that influence final year pre-registration nursing student’s selection of their graduate year program and explore student experiences of a clinical school model in influencing their selection.
Methods: An exploratory descriptive design was implemented using data from four focus group interviews (n=9 participants). Convenience sampling of all final year undergraduate nursing students at one university was conducted from June to October 2023. Participants were recruited from four metropolitan clinical nursing schools and one regional campus.
Results: Four themes were identified during analysis of focus group interviews. The impact of clinical placement, Alignment of culture and values, Career aspirations, The student experience of a ‘clinical school model’.
Participant responses indicated the importance of alignment of personal values and the perceived organisational culture. Clinical placement experiences are an important factor in student decision making when choosing graduate programs. The experiences of student peers on clinical placement, family and friends’ experiences as consumers of health services are also important factors in the decision-making process. Participants identified tension between prioritising geographical location or a preferred specialisation and this affected how they viewed their career path. Informed by the interview data, students prioritised organisational culture, geographical location and positive clinical placement experiences as the most important factors in choosing a graduate program.
Conclusion: Preliminary findings indicate that consideration of graduate program selection is a high priority for final year nursing students. There is an opportunity for pre-registration nursing programs and health services to work together to support students in their graduate year selection. With the increasing pressure on health services to recruit and retain novice graduates, the findings from this project help in our understanding of how nursing students’ select a graduate program in a competitive workforce environment.
Keywords: Nursing graduate, graduate program, nursing student, clinical school, nursing workforce.

Primary Health Care (PHC) nurses form the largest group of healthcare professionals in Australia's primary care sector, numbering over 96,000. This diverse group includes nurse practitioners (NPs), registered nurses (RNs), enrolled nurses (ENs), and registered midwives (RMs). (Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), 2023). These nurses are skilled, regulated, and trusted health professionals working in partnership with multidisciplinary teams to manage chronic and complex conditions, prevent illness and promote health across the lifespan. They work in diverse clinical settings including general practice, schools, community health, aged care, Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Services, refugee health and corrections.
Attracting the next generation of healthcare workers to primary health care presents a significant and intricate challenge. Often absent from nursing curricula or only briefly covered under the umbrella of 'community nursing,' primary health care lacks substantial representation. In addition, while many curriculums across Australia cover chronic and complex care, not all articulate how this type of care is delivered in primary health care contexts. This gap in exposure to the sector's diversity, autonomy, and collaborative nature becomes a barrier, hindering nurses from transitioning and working to their full scope of practice. To address this, PHC needs to be embedded the curriculum, not just in theory but also in practical application if future nurses are going to address the health needs of Australian communities.
Despite most clinical placements occurring historically in in hospital settings, students should receive quality theory and clinical practice in primary health care to enable prevention and chronic and complex health needs to be addressed by the future workforce. APNA's 2023 student nurse placement data reveals an alarming 50% of participants had no prior exposure to primary health care. Ensuring diverse health needs are met and hospitalisations are minimized requires a paradigm shift in nursing education, acknowledging, and integrating the significance of primary health care in preparing a competent and versatile nursing workforce.

Aim/Objective: Case-based learning (CBL) is often used in nursing and midwifery education to explore authentic clinical scenarios to support student learning. However, CBL is implemented in many ways. Some curricula use new cases each semester/trimester, some continue cases across the year, and others use a ‘caseload’ of women across a midwifery degree, enabling students to follow the history of women in their caseload. This study aimed to explore students’ perceptions of varied models of CBL used to support student learning to prepare for clinical midwifery practice and continuity of care.
Methods: This exploratory descriptive study explored midwifery students’ perceptions from three Australian universities using CBL scenarios in their curricula. Second, third, and fourth-year BNBM dual degree students participated in focus group discussions. Audio recordings were transcribed and thematically analysed.
Results: Students across all programs valued CBL for developing their critical thinking and clinical decision-making. They felt they were good discussion starters to learn together. The variety, breadth and depth of cases reflected clinical practice. Students appreciated when the CBL case in a tutorial was also used in their skills laboratories. However, students found the CBLs used were generally not reflective of continuity of care with new cases introduced each week. When the same case returned for a subsequent ‘pregnancy’, they did not recognise this, treating it as just another case. Recommendations for improvement included increasing accessibility with transcripts and/or subtitles of video and audio cases and using images to connect the text with a ‘woman’. Whilst some wanted more cases, having too many cases at a time was considered not reflective of clinical practice. More detail, akin to a medical record, was desired.
Conclusion: Scaffolding learning across the duration of a degree is a critical pedagogical practice. CBL is beneficial, but it is important to seek student feedback to improve educational practices.

Aim: To identify and summarise the requisites of capability for practice and enablers to support development of capability in pre-registration nursing education and areas in need of further research.
Methods: A scoping review was conducted, following JBI guidelines, to identify what is known on the concept of capability in pre-registration nursing education. Records published without date restriction were searched using MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, CINAHL and Scopus databases. Grey literature and reference list searching was conducted. Sources explicitly reporting requisites of capability, or enablers of capability development in pre-registration nursing education, were eligible. All sources, written in English and available in full text, were included. Data were extracted and synthesised using a specifically designed extraction tool.
Results: The number of records reviewed totalled 896. Twenty-three studies met the criteria for inclusion in the synthesis. Nineteen capability requisites for practice were reported. Whilst various enablers to support development of capability requisites were reported, some challenges were also identified.
Conclusion: This review identified requisites of capability for practice and enablers that may support development of capability in pre-registration nursing education. This holistic set of capabilities have previously not been reported. Given the emerging nature of the concept, this collective set of requisites may not be indicative of all required capabilities of nursing students upon graduation. Efforts to develop a definitive set of requisites and explore strategies to support and enable capability development are needed to advance this concept in the pre-registration nursing education context.

Aims: To investigate the stressors that are experienced by residential aged care managers that lead to burnout.
Method: A scoping review was undertaken using the following five databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMCARE, SCOPUS, and INFORMIT. The first review of title and abstracts was conducted by three authors to determine eligibility, using the program JBI SUMARI to manage the process. During the second review, two authors were involved in the screening of each full-text article, and where disagreement occurred, a collaborative conversation took place until consensus was achieved.
Results: An initial search found 275 articles, of which 5 met the inclusion criteria for the final review. Studies showed that burnout in residential aged care managers was influenced by a variety of stressors. Stressors identified in the literature were analysed and grouped into the following categories: Responsibilities, Reaction, and Regulation. These groups encapsulated risk factors for burnout in residential aged care managers, supporting the original work conducted on burnout by Maslach and Leiter (1997).
Conclusion: Studies on burnout in residential aged care managers can be assigned to environmental stressors that are situational and organisational and are outside the control of the individual (Maslach, 2003). Residential aged care managers experiencing burnout has a direct impact on the quality of care provided to residents (Iaconi et al., 2022; Hower et al., 2021). Another possible consequence is the increased risk of adverse health outcomes for residents (Hower et al., 2021) and a negative impact on staff outcomes (Iaconi et al., 2022). Consequently, this may also lead to an early departure from the nursing profession (Hower et al., 2021). Strategies that support residential aged care managers to manage and lessen the phenomenon of burnout requires further exploration.
Keywords: Aged, burnout, professional, leadership.

Aims/Objectives:
1. Create a safe, interactive and engaging opportunity for students to practice foundational skills with the support of an experienced Registered Nurse
2. Provide a tailored approach to support core nursing skills to improve clinical placement outcomes
3. Make Practice Lab Masterclasses accessible to students accommodating various timetable schedules
Methods: In collaboration with stakeholders including subject coordinators, the clinical liaison team, the Deputy Head of School, clinical facilitators and clinical simulation team, a program of clinical masterclasses was developed and piloted with 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students in an undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing Program.
The Masterclass sessions were designed to supplement the clinical laboratory classes for the core clinical subjects in each year. The Masterclass sessions were run by an experienced clinical facilitator and held in a dedicated practice lab. Sessions were designed to be practical and to maximise the time available for students to practice skills. Students were able to book in to classes on a voluntary basis.
At the conclusion of the masterclasses, students were asked to complete a short (anonymous) feedback survey on their experiences. This survey data was then analysed using statistical analysis and thematic analysis for free-text answers.
Results: "Build it and they will come" - Attendance at Masterclasses was consistently high and extra classes were added to meet demand.
There were 154 survey responses received. All participants rated the Masterclasses a 4 or 5 out of 5 on a likert scale for satisfaction. All 154 students answered yes to the questions "Do you feel the the session improved your clinical skills and knowledge?" and "Do you feel more confident in performing these skills on clinical placement?"
Themes identified included improved student confidence, peer-to-peer learning, consolidation of learning and increased engagement in learning.
Conclusion: The clinical Masterclasses were effective in supplementing the education provided and preparing students for clinical placement.
Keywords: clinical education, nursing students, clinical placement, masterclass.

Background: Workplace bullying, and violence (WBV) within the midwifery profession, has been a well-documented concern in health literature since the 1990s. Contemporary research highlights that WBV is often inflicted upon midwifery students. Workplace bullying, and violence has both short- and long-term effects on the student, including psychological trauma and poor mental health, loss of passion for midwifery and absenteeism.
Aim/Objective: To identify a solution to this phenomenon, we designed and facilitated a bespoke education program for South Australian midwifery students, enabling them to develop skills in conflict resolution, build resilience, and identify self-care strategies. This presentation focusses on Phase 1 of a larger mixed methods study.
Methods: In Phase 1, quantitative data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires and a validated conflict measurement tool, before and after attending an education workshop. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results from Phase 1 informed and guided the development of an interview schedule for Phase 2.
Results: Ninety-one second year South Australian midwifery students consented to participate in Phase 1. Preliminary results of this phase will be presented. Findings of the research will report on pre and post intervention levels of knowledge, skills and confidence, and assess the impact of a bespoke conflict resolution and resilience education workshop for midwifery students in managing WBV.
Conclusion: The outcomes of this research will provide insights into the prevalence and impact of WBV experienced by South Australian midwifery students.
Keywords: Midwifery; Students; Conflict; Bullying.

Aim/Objective: To describe the experiences of International Nursing Students (INS) during COVID-19 which led to the research recommendation for nursing schools to develop a Disaster Readiness Policy for potential future catastrophes.
Methods: Narrative Inquiry
Results: INS voiced the results of an exploration into their experiences of COVID, through the co-creation of a podcast. They describe the impact of mass unemployment. Without financial entitlements, students faced actual or potential hunger and homelessness. Policies for university fee payments were inconsistent, and subsequent, adverse immigration implications remained unchanged. The rise of anti-Asian racism extended into universities, identifying policy gaps. University closures resulted in social isolation. As COVID rates in home countries escalated, so too did students’ fears. Cultural and practical obstacles inhibited access to mental health support. COVID-related challenges occurred in addition to known educational and social challenges faced by INS. INS also managed issues pertinent to all nursing students during COVID. This research found that the nursing profession did not have a pre-existing policy to ensure an informed and cohesive approach to meet the needs of INS during the disaster.
Conclusion: It is feasible for other global or national catastrophes to emerge. Nursing leaders are in a position to develop an innovative Disaster Readiness Policy in nursing schools. This research concluded that a policy created in partnership with students is likely to be culturally appropriate and facilitate empowerment. The Policy should be developed before a crisis event and should reflect good governance. A Policy should address the potential impact of a disaster on students’ wholistic needs. Structures to ensure students can continue their education should be developed and easily instigated. The Policy increases the capacity for INS to complete their study, and contribute to the nursing workforce. While developed for INS, this Policy can benefit IS in other faculties.
Keywords: COVID-19; International nursing students; Disaster Readiness Policy; Trauma.

Aim/Objective: The presentation of a framework for a strengths-based reflective approach to professional supervision.
Methods: This poster provides an overview of strengths-based reflective supervision theory and a supervision framework which has been developed from the work of McCashen (2005, 2017).
Conclusion: The framework presented provides practitioners with a collaborative, reciprocal, respectful, and inclusive supervision approach to support critically reflective practice.
Keywords: Strengths-based practice, Reflective practice, Professional supervision.

Aim/Objective: This research study aims to uncover the shared understanding of the person-centred process of engaging authentically (McCormack and McCance, 2021) within the nurse-patient relationship in hospital settings.
Methods: Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, a brief period of observation using the validated revised Workplace Culture Critical Analysis Tool (Wilson et al., 2020) observing nurse-patient interactions followed by intensive interviewing with nurses and recent inpatients.
Grounded theory processes were used including concurrent data analysis and theoretical sampling to explore tentative categories (Charmaz, 2014). New theoretical insights revealed further understandings of the person-centred process of engaging authentically.
Results: The core category of “showing genuine interest in the person” encompasses the sense that nurses and the people they are caring for are both seen as more than just the professional role or healthcare recipient, they are seen as people. Sub-categories in this study focus on how authentic engagement is enacted, and what supports the nurses and patients to connect with each other, enhancing the care experience for both cohorts. Barriers to being able to engage authentically were also reported, and these impacted on the care provided.
Conclusion: This study found a shared understanding of “engaging authentically” with universal agreement of the importance of the process from both nurses and patients. Engaging authentically enhances the development of trusting and caring healthcare relationships.
Keywords: Nurse-patient relationship, Person-centred nursing practice, Engaging authentically, Care experience, Nurse satisfaction